1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid transporting apparatus which transports a liquid, and a method of producing the liquid transporting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet head which includes a piezoelectric actuator which applies pressure to ink by utilizing deformation of a piezoelectric material when an electric field acts in the piezoelectric material is an example of an ink-jet head which discharges ink onto a recording medium such as recording paper. For example, an ink-jet head described in FIG. 9 of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2004/0223035 A1 (corresponding to FIG. 9 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-284109) includes a channel unit having a plurality of pressure chambers each of which has a plane shape of a rhomboid which is long in one direction and which are arranged along a plane; and a piezoelectric actuator which is arranged on one surface of the channel unit. Further, the piezoelectric actuator includes a plurality of stacked piezoelectric sheets fixed to partition walls partitioning the pressure chambers such that the piezoelectric sheets cover the pressure chambers; a plurality of individual electrodes each of which is arranged, on a surface of the uppermost piezoelectric sheet, facing a central portion of one of the pressure chambers; and a plurality of common electrodes each of which sandwich the uppermost piezoelectric sheet which becomes an active layer, between the common electrodes and these individual electrodes respectively.
When a drive voltage is applied to a certain individual electrode of the individual electrodes to generate an electric field acting in a portion of the piezoelectric sheet sandwiched between this individual electrode and a common electrode of the common electrodes corresponding to this individual electrode, the electric field being in a direction of thickness which is a polarization direction of the piezoelectric sheets, the portion of the piezoelectric sheet are extended in the direction of thickness and contracted in a direction parallel to a plane of the piezoelectric sheet, which in turn bends the stacked piezoelectric sheets. Accordingly, a volume of the pressure chamber corresponding to this individual electrode is changed, and a pressure is applied to ink in the pressure chamber.